Newbie looking for help

[ttgirl]

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ahah my point is even at 10/20c i've won quite a bit. Who from, usually a complete and utter fish who you get a micro levels - u only need one at the table. I won't be seeing those at the higher levels, if i moved up.

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this is compeltely untrue.

[MrBump]

Hi JackKingIt and welcome to the forums. Great advice from everyone else so far.

Poker is an easy game to learn, but difficult to master. Don't under-estimate it, but if are prepared to work hard at it, are willing to learn and have plenty of patience and discipline, you can do it.

I have 2 very important pieces of advice:

1)Choose one type of poker that you want to learn first and stick to it. No-limit or limit, cash or tournaments. Do not switch between different types - they all require different strategies and you will only end up confusing yourself. A profitable long-term call in a cash game could be a bad call in a tournament, for example.

2) Bankroll management. Search for this term on 2+2 and follow the advice given. Someone can be a winning player, best in the world, but if they don't practice good bankroll management, they WILL go broke.

GL

[hihimichelle]

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ahah my point is even at 10/20c i've won quite a bit. Who from, usually a complete and utter fish who you get a micro levels - u only need one at the table. I won't be seeing those at the higher levels, if i moved up.

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this is compeltely untrue.

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yes, it isn't very scientific [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] basically the essence is fewer fishes as you move up. If people want to tell me that $1/$2 is very similar to 10/20c then i'm on my bike eheh.

[JackKingIt]

SWEET! Thanks Everyone! I have gotten some great advice, “good lucks” and “good lucks”. I appreciate and am going to make the most of it all!

Right now I'm going to search for info on Fixed Limit. While I seem to do Alright on No Limit I seem to win more often in FL hey look my first use of an official poker term! J I’m also going to lookup bank management before I do anything else! I have a little bit money to invest into this, so I’m hopeful! Anybody know a good place to go and pay to learn this all? Maybe even have someone who can tutor me. I want someone decent, not a crock. But hey it’s poker how many crocks could there be. ;-) Speaking of which is RakeTheRake as freaking awesome as it looks? If it’s really that cool PokerStars, the site I’m using, isn’t listed there. Which of the ones listed is the best to use. Come to think of it which site is best to use in general.

A big rookie mess up I did is to add money into PokerStars I had to buy an “All Access Visa Card” Which cost me $10. Is there a cheaper way to do that? Nothing will make me loose money even faster than having to pay to lose money.

Well I’m going to deep into research now, I’m going to be the Jane Goodall of poker knowledge for the until my eyes are melting from my skull. Thank you guys for everything!


If anybody knows a link to informative posts about the following that would be super awesome! I’m going to spend the next every free moment I have looking into them. Any donations of useful links would be much appreciated.

Bank Management
The best place to start on 2+2.com
How to make any sense of Poker Tracker
A great Site to use (For play, profit or learning.)
Adding money to sites.
Rakebacking
Tutoring

[maSkraP]

The best place to start off, IMO, is at this place of the forum: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...e=0#Post3239210

This link has GREAT posts regarding SSNLHE (Small Stakes No Limit Holdem Poker). I know you want to start at fixed limit, but I'm a strong no limit believer so I'm going to try and direct you on that path. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

All that you're looking for is pretty much there: bankroll management, PT guide, etc. But to give you a little summary, bankroll management is very important for you to be a profitable poker player. The general rule is for you to have 20x your buy-in amount of the table you're playing at. So let's say your playing 2NLHE (which is equivalent to $0.01/$0.02 blinds. You should know that for you to play at that table, you SHOULD buy-in for 100 times the BB (big blind) --> which, in this case, would be $2.00. And like I said above, for you to be playing comfortably at these tables with a $2 buy in, you should have a bankroll of 20x that ($40). Now, to move on up to the next "level", you should have at least 15 buy-ins TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT for your next level. Thus, if you start at 2NLHE, your next goal is to be playing at 5NLHE (which is $0.02/$0.05 blind tables with a buy-in amount of $5). So, you should continue playing at 2NLHE tables until you attain a bankroll of $75 (which is 15 buy-ins for 5NLHE tables). If you go back down to 10 buy-ins playing at 5NLHE, go back to your previous table (the 2NLHE in this case). And repeat the process. Sorry, I tried to be detailed and simple to understand as possible. Maybe a little too wordy? :P

I started with $20 (ideally, like I said due to my reasons above, you should start with a $40 bankroll starting at 2NLHE tables). If you're playing right and daily improving your game, you should not lose this bankroll amount and should never have to deposit anymore money than this.

As for poker tracker, the guide to using it is in the link I sent you, but it's specifically located here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...part=1&vc=1

Good luck to you in your poker journey!

[Poker Clif]

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I’m very very tired of working my job. One day I was dropping my girlfriend off at a new clients, she’s a babysitter, this new client had a fabulous house, nice car and other major signs of money. Turns out he’s an online poker player! That was enough for me to hear. I have been working at a terrible job for three years. Before that I have over a decade of atrocious jobs ruled by overwhelming stupidity, harebrained politics and little to no hopes of making any money. I’m now ready to dedicate all the energy I have to something else and Poker is it! I’m not looking to become a millionaire, I just want more than what I have now. (Which is not much.)
However After reading bits of a few books I’ve developed a technique that is not working! I started with 1 cent Hold’em games and my starting capital is over %50 gone! How can I figure out what I’m doing wrong? I seem to get a decent amount. (Sometimes even doubling what I start out with.) But I always seem to lose it all within a combination of 3 hands! Like I just ended with a game where I started with a buck. Ended up two dollars, 2 minutes later I have none! What is a newbie is doing wrong when he’s whining about this happening?
I have Nick Grudzien’s book but I‘m looking for some techniques to help me with the low tables (1 and 2 cent games) while I try to understand this book. Any suggestions? Where is a good place to start and research. I have a decent grasp of the game, but still loose track of the terms. Is there a good place to look those up? Please if anybody can help me out that would be awesome!

Sincerely,
Johnny T.

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You sound serious, and I think you're on the right track. I have a few suggestions. I'm doing very much the same thing as you, except for now, I'm trying to make poker a decent part-time or second job, not my full-time job. That may change at some point, since my full-time job pays less than yours does.

1. AT FIRST, IT'S NOT ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU CAN WIN, IT'S ABOUT BUILDING A BANKROLL. If at some point you can make $15 an hour playing poker, that's great. But you can't do that at microlimits. That means, you have to build a bankroll so you can move up.

Grinding out $5 a week at micros isn't any fun. But while you're veeeery slooowly buidling a bankroll, you're gaining experience. By the time you can CONSISTENTLY grind out, say, $10 a week, you've gained a lot of experience, you've built a bankroll, and you're ready to move up to higher limits and do it all again.

I'm pretty conservative. I won't move up until I have 30 buy-ins.

2. SET SMALLER, MORE ATTAINABLE GOALS. Here are some of types of small goals (in no particular order) that I have set for myself: Be able to profit $10 at least one day a week. Get my average place (for the month) in STTs under 4.5.

As to your $12 dollars an hour, I have an intermediate goal of equaling the minimum wage playing poker. At that point, it's becoming a real job, and you can keep working to make it more lucrative.

3. TREAT POKER JUST LIKE A JOB. Work 60 hours a week. If you work 40 hours a week at your regular job, then poker should get 20 hours.

Set regular work hours. Don't kid yourself by taking half-hour breaks if you can't do that during your "real" job. Take two 15-minute breaks and a half-hour lunch.

Watch the interruptions. How many times would you answer your cell phone at your primary (sounds better than "real") job?

Watch the distractions. Would a TV being on, or music, help or hurt you at your primary job?

4. Be realisitic about time periods. Check numbers one and two above, and note how often I use the word "week" or "month" instead of "day". Your losing $2 in three hands isn't trivial, but a long-term perspective is important.

A few hours ago I was at my first live MTT final table. I busted out in 8th place when I shoved with KK and lost to AA.

Short-term, that hurts. Long term, that's a winner. I was the short stack, and had the patience to wait several orbits for a good hand or situation. Long-term, that discipline will be very profitable. As far as my profitabilty, a knockout at one tournament means nothing.

Think like a Klingon: "Today is a good day to die!"

Note that one of my goals was to make $10 a day AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK. When you are talking about consistency, a day or a week proves nothing. I was talking about consistency over a period of weeks. Then it starts to mean something.

If you win $50 two days in a row, that proves nothing. If you average $15 a week over two months, it's still a statistically small sample (as far as number of hands played), but it should give you some idea of how good you really are.

[MattHH]

Make sure you don't hang all your financial hopes on poker, if you do you are setting yourself for a potential disaster and putting alot of pressure on yourself that could negatively affect your game. Don't quit your day job. If you're only working 15-20 hours at your job, you still have plenty (if not too much) time to spend playing poker. Don't look for a quick system to winning because there is none, just try to keep learning.

[MMagicM]

Pretty nice post Poker Cliff, but I don't agree with this part at all:

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Set regular work hours. Don't kid yourself by taking half-hour breaks if you can't do that during your "real" job. Take two 15-minute breaks and a half-hour lunch.

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You shouldn't force yourself to play poker. If you are tired, drunk, stoned (ok, this might be arguably...), not concentrated or just don't feel like playing than don't do it as this will cost you money!

[Poker Clif]

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Pretty nice post Poker Cliff, but I don't agree with this part at all:

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Set regular work hours. Don't kid yourself by taking half-hour breaks if you can't do that during your "real" job. Take two 15-minute breaks and a half-hour lunch.

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You shouldn't force yourself to play poker. If you are tired, drunk, stoned (ok, this might be arguably...), not concentrated or just don't feel like playing than don't do it as this will cost you money!

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Thank you for the kind words about my post. I really appreciate feedback, and response to what I'm posting, whether agreement or criticism, is always helpful.

I'm writing a long, considered response because this isn't a guy just wanting to be a better player. He wants to make it a career. And building a career takes work, there is no way around that. And if he's not a self-starter, if he can't do what he has to do to make it happen, it's better that he find that out sooner rather than later.

I should say that I have ADD, which was diganosed very late (age 40), and I made a pretty big mess of my life, just by being disorganized, for a long time. So I have to plan, organize, and overcompensate or I wouldn't get much of anything done. Some people can take a much more casual approach. I understand that. Plus, I'm a nerd, and I love spreadsheet, graphs, etc. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

If he doesn't want to schedule his time, and can still get it done, that's fine as long as he keeps track of his hours. Just keep a piece of paper, or a spreadsheet, and if you play an MTT for 2 1/2 hours (or study Harrington for 2 1/2 hours) write it down. If you're tired, and decide just to do a 1TT, then play for an hour and write that down. If you want to play a cash game for 15 minutes before a friend comes over, then do that. But I would urge him to keep track of that time, by quarter or half hours, scheduled or not.

Remember we're talking about a guy who wants to make poker a career, what he does to pay his rent. And as Sean Hannity once said on his radio show, "I don't know anyone that got rich working 40 hours a week."

If playing online for several hours a day is just too boring, then it's not for him. If he can't turn off his cell phone, and takes 7 calls during an hour of play, then it's not for him.

If he's not willing to do the boring study, and learn the basics that he needs to know (What are the breakeven pot odds with one card to come if you have 10 outs? What odds are you giving if you bet 2/3 of the pot?), then it's not for him.

Sure, you can be more flexible than I am with my system. If you want to jump into a cash game for 15 minutes, then go out with friends, fine.

In a nutshell, what I'm urging is that if he wants to make poker a job, then he should give it a trial run, when he's not depending on it for his rent money, and see how it feels. In his situation, with a part-time job, he should be able to play poker for at least 20 hours a week with no problem. He should be able to keep records. He should spend some time on 2+2 (and not just making posts about which female players are hot [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img], that doesn't count).

If he can't devote more than 20 hours a week to poker when he only has a part time job, if he can't keep good records, if memorizing odds and outs is too boring, then it's not for him. If he sits for 15 minutes folding bad hands, then plays K5o UTG because it's the best hand he's seen all day, even if he knows better, then poker as a career is not for him.

The purpose of this post is not to tell him how to do it, though I think that my suggestions have merit. But if this is going to be a career, the way he's going to pay his rent, then he better be willing to spend the hours playing, studying and doing whatever else is necessary.

It would be better to try it now for 20 hours a week than to waste time and money chasing a dream that isn't right for him.

[excession]

LOL sure if you want to be the next Phil Ivey it's about the talent, but if you want just to make $50-$100/hr as a grinder it's about discipline.

I play maybe 12hrs/week and make $60/hr sitting for and hour or two most night with my laptop in front of the TV.

My maths ain't great and my real world life (2 kids under 4, new house, full time job as corporate attorney and poorly wife) means I can never really pay attention or guarantee more than about 30 minutes of uninterrupted play - but I do play primarily for enjoyment and think about what I'm doing - I'd say a willingness to learn and a discipline to keep strictly to bankroll limits are far more important to most online winners than some nebulous concept of 'talent'.

For pro grinders the ability to play tens of thousands of hands/month without burnout and an ability to cope with extended downswings and avoid tilt are again more critical than 'poker intelligence' viewed in a vacuum.